Getting Cannot bind argument to parameter 'Path', because it is null error in PowerShell

Question

I'm trying to move all the mails after removing the special characters in the filename to some destination based on the filename.

FOLDLIST is an array, where I'm having the condition variable and destination foldername.

Set-Location 'C:\Users\abrahame\Desktop\Work\PSG Mail Movement\Mail'
$DESLOC="c:\Temp\ua-closed bugs"
$FOLDLIST = @(("UA", "CLOSE",  "ua-closed bugs"), ("VS", "CLOSE", "vs-closed-bugs"), ("CM", "CLOSED", "cm - closed-bugs"))
gci | Foreach-object { $NEWN = $_.Name -replace '&',' ' -replace '_', ' ' -replace '#', ' ' -replace '!', ' '  -replace '@', ' '  -replace '$', ' '  -replace '%', ' '  -replace '^', ' '  -replace '&', ' '  -replace '\(', ' ' -replace '\)', ' '  -replace '\[', ' ' -replace '\]', ' ' -replace '\{', ' '  -replace '\}', ' ' -replace '\-', ' ';
    Write-Host $NEWN.Length
    if($NEWN.Length -gt  70) {
        $NEWN="$NEWN.Substring(1,70)"
        $NEWN=$NEWN.msg
    }

    $FOLDLIST | ForEach-Object {
        $CXR=$_[0]
        $STAT=$_[1]

        if ($NEWN -match ("$CXR") -and $NEWN -match ("$STAT")){
            Write-Host  $CXR -  $STAT
            $DIR=$_[2]
            $NEWN=$NEWN.trim()
            $DPATH="$DESLOC\$DIR\$NEWN"
            Write-Host $DPATH
            mv $_.Name $DPATH
        }
    }
}

I'm getting this error. Where did I make a mistake?

67
UA - CLOSE
c:\Temp\ua-closed bugs\ua-closed bugs\RE  CLOSE OA TICKET   10350   OA   UAT PHASE FOR HP FARES  1 .msg
Move-Item : Cannot bind argument to parameter 'Path' because it is null.
At C:\Users\abrahame\Desktop\Work\PSG Mail Movement\mailmove_multdimentional.ps1:24 char:5
+         mv <<<<  $_.Name $DPATH
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (:) [Move-Item], ParameterBindingValidationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationErrorNullNotAllowed,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.MoveItemCom
   mand

Note: gci is an alias of Get-ChildItem. mv is an alias of Move-Item. — Peter Mortensen
– Peter Mortensen, Commented Jul 25 at 21:00

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2025-07-25 20:46:45Z

9

My guess is that $_.Name does not exist.

If I were you, I'd bring the script into the ISE and run it line for line till you get there then take a look at the value of $_.

edited Jul 25 at 20:46

Peter Mortensen

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answered Oct 1, 2012 at 13:52

Thomas Lee

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1 Comment

Bitcoin Murderous Maniac Over a year ago

In my case, this was true and thus using conditional logic such as If($var){$var | % {Remove-Item -Path $_.FullName -Recurse -Force -Confirm:$False}};. So it'll only take this action is that $var is true and if it's not true or null, it'll still move on after the conditional logic or whatever.

Keith Hill · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-01 13:47:04Z

3

$_ is the active object in the current pipeline. You've started a new pipeline with $FOLDLIST | ... so $_ represents the objects in that array that are passed down the pipeline. You should stash the FileInfo object from the first pipeline in a variable and then reference that variable later e.g.:

write-host $NEWN.Length
$file = $_
...
Move-Item $file.Name $DPATH

answered Oct 1, 2012 at 13:47

Keith Hill

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2 Comments

Tamilan Over a year ago

Keith, I'm doing the same as you advised. $CXR=$_[0] $STAT=$_[1] and $DIR=$_[2] . I'm taking the information and storing in these variables and using that..

Tamilan Over a year ago

Thank you Very much.. It is because of first for loop. You are right.

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